The Art of Photography
by demonicdestiel
Summary: Dean didn't want to sign up for some stupid photography course; he wanted to take auto shop. There's nothing useful about taking pictures. Highschool!AU, Artist!Dean x Photographer!Cas
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hey hey everybody! Back with another procrastination fic... So instead of working on my English essay... Here's a highschool AU, Artist/Writer Dean x Photographer!Cas fanfic. Trying something new with the fic being in present tense as well, so we'll see how that goes. Anyways, I'll shut up now so you can start reading...!**_

_**P.S. Dean is not supposed to be in highschool, and Cas is uh... Legal... I'll elaborate more later.**_

* * *

Dean had only taken a photography course because auto shop had been completely booked by the time he'd tried to sign up. He really wasn't interested in photography at all. So when Mrs. Holmes stood up at the front of the classroom and explained that they would have to take seventy shots over the next week, he knew he'd be failing the course.

What could possibly make this situation worse? "I want you all to partner up!" Mrs. Holmes yells over top of the mess of voices.

Dean groans and gathers his books, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He turns around too quickly and ends up smacking into someone who was standing behind him. "Sorry..." He says.

"It's alright." A shorter guy with large glasses pushes his jet black hair back out of his eyes and stares up at Dean. "Hey, um, you want to work together on this project?" He asks quietly, holding up his huge camera, "Everyone is already paired up, so..."

Dean cocks an eyebrow but replies, "Sure, I guess... You wanna meet today after school?"

"Yeah sure." He looks relieved. "Do you know the park downtown? I bet you we'd get some nice shots there!" He smiles up at Dean. He's about three inches shorter than him, but the way he's standing so close makes it seem like he's much shorter.

"Sounds good." He steps out of the way of one of his classmates, who's walking with her phone practically glued to her face (clearly not paying attention to where she's going), and lugs his bag back up on his shoulder again.

"By the way, my name's Castiel; if you were wondering, I mean..." He holds out his hand, another small smile appearing.

Dean chuckles and shakes Castiel's hand. "That's a mouthful, huh? Bet your friends must really have fun with that."

When Castiel laughs, it sounds forced, but Dean brushes it off, not thinking too much of it.

* * *

Dean is running late, delayed by his math teacher, who had asked to see him at the end of the day. As expected, he had advised Dean to seek help from a tutor. Academics had never been Dean's strong point.

To his relief, Cas was beneath one of the huge trees, phone in hand, still waiting for Dean.

"Castiel!" He yells, breaking out into a run. Cas looks up, his face brightening considerably.

"Geez, sorry about that, Mr. Matthews wanted to talk after class." He pants, sinking down beside Castiel in the shade of the tree. "I didn't have any way to tell you... Hey, if we're gonna be doing this, we might as well get each other's' phone numbers." He digs out his cellphone, an ancient flip phone that had to be at least 7 years old, and hands it to Cas. Surprisingly, he navigates it with ease, not even asking how to access the contacts, as most people did. Dean's mouth twists into a smile.

Grabbing Cas' phone - a sleeker, and much newer Samsung - from where it was balanced on his knee, he made a new contact for himself and entered his name, along with the 10 digits of his phone number. Cas, on the other hand, was still tapping buttons, since Dean's phone was one of those old shitty ones that didn't have a full keyboard.

"So uh, what do we have to do for this assignment?" Dean asks, waiting for Castiel to finish. "Like are we just taking a bunch of pictures, or is it of something specific?"

"You weren't paying attention at all were you?" Cas looks up at Dean with a lopsided grin. His hair is in his eyes again, and Dean can't help but return the smile. "The photos can be of anything. Pictures of the ordinary; but taken in an extraordinary way. We just have to experiment with different lighting and subjects and such."

Dean rests his head in his hands. "You seem to know what you're talking about. How come I lucked out and got an awesome partner? I mean, half the people in our class are credit-recovery slackers, why wouldn't they have teamed up with you?"

Castiel raises an eyebrow. "Did you know beforehand that I'm a photography geek?"

"No, but-"

"That's why." Cas cuts in. His small smile is back, and he pulls out an expensive looking camera from his backpack. "Because everyone just thinks I'm in there for the same reason as them. No one in their right mind would take photography unless they needed a credit, right?" He puts the camera strap around his neck and stands up. "D'you have a camera?"

Dean stretches his back out and shakes his head. "If I had money to spend on a _camera_, I'd've bought a new cell a long time ago. First priority." He rolls his shoulders and gets up, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Castiel nods in understanding. "I guess we'll use my camera then. This thing's amazing; you really did get lucky when you partnered up with me." He laughs.

Dean rolled his eyes playfully, "Geez, the benefits just keep piling up!" He nods to the quaint little café across the street and adds, "By the way, I was thinking maybe we could get coffee after this."

Cas pushes up his glasses on his nose and averts his sapphire eyes. "Uh... Y-yeah I'd like that..."

It's hard to tell with his head bowed, but Dean could swear he'd caught Castiel blushing.

* * *

_**A/N: So what do you guys think so far? My first chapters are always a bit rough, but I've already written basically the whole fic, and I can tell you, it gets better! I appreciate any positive feedback; rate and review! :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

Dean pulls out a chair and sits down heavily on it, his legs aching from standing all day.

A petite blond woman walks over to their table. "Hey Jess," Dean says with a smile, "I'll just have the usual... And maybe if you could tell Sam I'm here?"

"Sure thing!" Jessica replies, "And what'll you have?" She looks to Castiel, who is fiddling with his camera.

He looks up for a minute and says shyly, "I'll have some hot chocolate please." There's something about the way he goes directly back to dismantling the camera that makes Dean wonder how he could've possibly acted so outgoing earlier. He seems more like the type to be completely silent unless spoken to.

Jess twirls the pen between her fingers before shooting a confused look at Castiel. "Got it." She runs back to the kitchen for a minute, then wanders back over to their table and pulls up a chair beside Dean, "Hey, you alright with staying after hours today Dean? Sam and I could use a little help cleaning up the kitchen. Kind of had a brownie explosion today and... Well it's a mess. Your stuff is on the house if you help."

Dean visibly perks up at her last sentence, looking like a kid in a candy shop. "Sure, I'll help. Would the exploded brownies be off-limits, or...?"

Laughing, Jess replies, "No, of course not. As long as you don't mind that they're burnt to a crisp." Then she leans in and whispers so that only Castiel and Dean can hear, "For the record, Sam's a terrible cook..."

"Come on Jess, it wasn't _that_ bad!"

Sam walks out of the kitchen, balancing two mugs and a plate in his hands. Mouth watering, Dean grabs the plate of fresh pumpkin pie from him, digging into it before he had even sat down. "Perfect as always Jess!" He says around a mouthful of pie.

Rolling his eyes, Sam sets a mug full of coffee in front of Dean, then Castiel's hot chocolate gets set down as well. He sits down heavily beside Cas in the booth, wiping his hands on the apron he wore. "So you gonna introduce us, or...?" He smirks.

"Oh yeah," Dean swallows another mouthful of pie and points to Cas with his fork. "This is Castiel. Cas, this is my little brother, Sammy, and his girlfriend Jessica." Sam does a sort of salute, and Jess waves.

Cas offers a brief smile and mumbles, "Hey." He snaps the lens back onto his camera and picks up his mug, taking a small sip of hot chocolate. Then to Dean he says, "I didn't realize you were a Winchester."

Sam laughs, "Geez Dean, that's harsh; you're dropping the last name already? I mean, I know dad was a tool, but-"

"Shut up Sam," Dean snaps, "It just never came up."

Castiel looks between the Winchesters awkwardly. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up such a sensitive issue like that..." He sets his camera back down on the table carefully, but his hands didn't move from where they rested on its sides.

"Anyways..." Jess started hesitantly, "Dean, Castiel, tell me how you met! Was it like in the movies...?" She smiles smugly, and Dean cringes as soon as he figures out whats coming next... "I mean, you are dating right?"

Cas starts choking on his hot chocolate, and Dean can feel his own face growing red with embarrassment. "For the last time Jess, I am _not_ gay." He whispers.

"But Benny-"

"Is a good friend who helped me out of a bad spot. Sam would you please back me up here? You've met all my girlfriends for Gods sake..." His tone grew pleading, which wasn't helping his case any.

Sam put on a smirk, and Dean groaned in advance. "You could be playing for both teams. Besides, who wouldn't wanna date this little cutie? Lookit him Dean!" He puts one of his arms around Castiel's shoulders, the other ruffles his dark hair. Cas doesn't seem to mind, in fact, he seems to be rather enjoying this, his mouth twitching up into yet another smile.

"We're just working together for a photography project!" Dean exclaims, desperate for a change in topic. The rest of the café was staring now, curious gazes turned towards their small group.

Dean stands up, grabbing Castiel by the wrist and pulling him out of the restaurant before his brother and Jess could do any more damage. He stops and turns around, putting his hand on Cas' shoulder. "Sorry about that... It's just that Jess and Sam like to tease me about everything lately. I'd compare it to what parents do to their kids, but it seems a bit stupid considering Sam is my younger brother..." He quickly shuts his mouth, realizing he's talking without thinking again.

"I-It's okay Dean I swear. I understand that families have some rough patches..." Cas says, "...But, next time we're meeting at my place." He smirks up at Dean, who only laughs in response. "And you're bringing the pie."

Dean drops his hand back to his side again and pouts over dramatically. "Fine."

* * *

**_A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter guys. I've written up three more chapters after this, but for some reason, I couldn't get this to come out right. I still feel like it's a bit rushed or that everyone is just really OOC or something, I don't know, but I just can't get it right. So here's chapter 2 anyways. (I promise chapter 3 is amazing. Like I'm squealing just reading it :p I'll post it in a little bit, just gotta edit it one more time before I post it.) Unfortunately, I smashed my laptop screen today by closing it on my art tablet, and my entire display is just gone. *sobs* So um... It's gonna take me a while to post stuff since I have to type it up on my ipod instead... Just a heads up anyways. Well, I still wanna know what you guys think of this chapter, so rate and review! REVIEWS MAKE MY DAY. Seriously, just leave a little message or a suggestion, I dunno. Love you guys._**


	3. Chapter 3

Together, Dean and Castiel had taken 28 shots in the park on the first day; they were ahead of everyone in their class. Every picture they'd kept was crisp and perfect, thanks to Cas' professional camera, and surprisingly, Dean didn't find the course half bad once he'd actually begun to appreciate the work that went into photographs. Mostly though, it was Castiel's enthusiasm that pushed him to try harder for this project. They had spent the entire night texting back and forth, (Dean had taken Sam's iPhone and switched their SIM cards) just talking about themselves. Cas had sent Dean links to some of his favourite photographers' work, while Dean had spilled that he was actually a self taught artist, taking pictures of some of his own paintings and sending those. In fact, they had stayed up so late talking to each other that Cas had fallen asleep on his phone and kept sending random jumbled messages to Dean, who was understandably confused until Castiel explained what had happened the next day.

Dean had never had an entire conversation like that before, not with any of his friends. Even Benny, who Dean had known for years, had never set aside his whole night to talk to him. Cas understood him, and could relate to him, even more than Sam ever had.

"Hey," Cas pokes Dean's arm, "Dean don't fall asleep now... It's too noticeable... When's your lunch?"

"Next period." Dean mumbles.

Cas sighs. "Shit... D'you have any spares?"

Dean shakes his head.

"Guess I'm skipping then... C'mon, we only have ten minutes left of this class, then we can sleep for an hour and forty minutes. Dean...?" He shakes him by the shoulder, "Look, now theres eight minutes left."

Dean ignores him, and Cas rolls his eyes. "Fine, lets go. I'll ask Mrs. Holmes if we can leave early."

Dean lifts his head from the desk and smirks at Castiel. "Thanks Cas." He says, his smug look diminishing as he yawns widely.

Cas only rolls his eyes and goes to Mrs. Holmes. Of course, since Cas is the teacher's pet, and he gives the added excuse that 'Dean isn't feeling well,' she lets them go.

"So where're we going?" Dean asks, as he lugs his heavy backpack off the desk. "Cafeteria?"

"The cafeteria to sleep?" Cas scoffs, pushing the front doors open. "No I was thinking more like we could walk back to my place. We'd still have around an hour before fourth period."

Dean cocks an eyebrow. "How long would it take to drive there?"

"Five minutes, why?"

"Because there's no way in _hell_ I'm walking. Come on, I parked over here."

"I didn't know you had a car," Cas says, coming up behind Dean.

He catches Dean's enormous grin and starts to wonder if he's opened a door he can't close. "Oh, it's the nicest fuckin' car in the state!" He pulls a ring of keys from his pocket and stops in front of a sleek, black car, polished to perfection. He gestures to it dramatically, huge grin still on his face. "My baby... No other car like her!"

Cas tilts his head slightly to read the name inscribed on the front grille of the car. "Chevrolet... Okay, you like classic Chevs then?"

Dean emitted a strange noise and threw his hands up in the air. "_Like?_ Cas, don't even get me started on this; you're gonna regret it... Oh man, classic cars are just... _Works of art_." He unlocks the car and gets in.

"What year is it?" Cas asks with a smile, climbing into the passenger seat.

Dean laughs, "It's a '67 Impala... You really up for hearing me gush about my baby? 'Cause that's where you're heading, Cas..." He revs the engine and looks over to Castiel, who stares back at him expectantly.

"I want to know everything you have to say about her." A lopsided smirk works its way onto Cas' face, and Dean feels like his lungs are constricting. Was he serious? "Don't leave anything out!" Cas adds cheerfully.

Dean's face breaks into the biggest grin Cas had ever seen. "You better get comfy."

* * *

_**A/N: Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did... :p What do you guys think of Dean and Cas' relationship so far? Too much or...? Suggestions are greatly appreciated, and as always, rate and review!**_


	4. Chapter 4

They'd gotten to Cas' apartment in 10 minutes. To Dean of course, it had seemed like less. Cas had listened attentively, and again, Dean thought of how pleasant it was to have someone who liked to just talk with him. No bragging about how drunk they got on the weekend, no talk about how many cops they blew up in their new video game; it was just casual conversation. Castiel was weird like that. But then again, so was Dean.

"...Depth of field is basically... How much of the picture is in focus. You know, whatever area isn't blurry is the part that's in focus. So if you make a shallow depth of field, that means that only your subject is sharp and in focus." Cas explains. He unlocks his front door and ushers Dean inside.

"Sounds complicated," Dean says, still trying to take in all this new information. He has no idea how talking about the impala turned into Cas teaching him more about photography.

Cas drops his bag onto the table. "Not really. Once you start getting into f-stops and such, _t__hen_ it gets a little complicated."

Dean follows Cas through the kitchen into a small living room furnished with a couch and an old recliner. There's a tiny T.V. by the window, and a marked up, glass-topped coffee table in the middle of the room. It doesn't look like the apartment is meant for more than one person. "Do you live alone, Cas...?" He asks hesitantly.

"Yeah." Cas replies, voice slow and quiet. "It's a long story." Dean sits down in the burgundy recliner and pulls the lever to raise the foot rest, letting out a contented noise as he does so.

Cas takes a seat on the couch closest to him. "Tell me." Dean says. It's more of a suggestion than a demand, Cas thinks. Dean genuinely wants to hear what he has to say.

"I don't even know where to start, Dean."

"From the beginning."

Castiel chuckles, though it isn't exactly a humorous laugh. "I ran away... It was a stupid, childish decision." He sighs and massages his temples wearily. "Four years ago, my parents filed for a divorce. It screwed my mom up pretty bad. They'd never really gotten along well, but most of the time they stayed away from each other anyways. The custody battle over myself and my sister Anna was awful; but my mother eventually won, and I had to move away, leave all my friends back in Illinois and change schools. It was difficult for all of us to adapt. My older brother Gabriel had moved out the year before my parents split, and I had kept in contact with him, but he suddenly stopped writing to me. I just got... Ya know, we all got pretty depressed. My mother... She just kept going downhill. Anna and I took turns cooking dinner for her, we'd split the housework and I'd do laundry. But one day I came home from school and just... I had known there was something wrong..."

Dean stares at Cas, watching his face closely. He can only see a small portion of it, as Cas has his arm slung across his eyes, but Dean knows by his pursed lips that he's having a hard time telling his story. "Cas... You don't have to do this..."

"I _want_ to." Cas licks his lips and takes a deep breath, hesitating before speaking again. "She'd hung herself... In her room. I- I found her..." He trails off, and Dean watches a tear slide down Cas' cheek. "She hadn't thought there was anything left living for I guess..."

Dean can't think of anything to say. He's never been good with this kind of thing. He gets up from the recliner and sits down again beside Cas on the couch, deciding that he should fill the role of a 'shoulder to cry on'... Literally.

Castiel is tense at first, but soon he eventually leans into Dean, cheek pressed to his shoulder. He sniffles and wipes his eyes before continuing his story. "I walked to Anna's school and met her before she could get home... I didn't know what else to do besides call Gabriel, so I lied to Anna and told her that my mother had arranged for us to sleep over at Gabe's house for the weekend. We sat and waited for hours until he finally showed up, understandably confused, and I... I had to tell him what the hell had happened, with Anna still in the car and... Oh _God_ did it break her." He lets out a shaky, tearful laugh, and Dean strokes Cas' hair soothingly. What a horrible thing; to find your mother dead like that...

Dean shuts his eyes but concentrates on trying to stay awake. "So, why did you leave to go off on your own then?" He decides to ask carefully.

"Gabriel took both Anna and I while my father got the legal things sorted out and made arrangements... Though with my brother working full-time, he wasn't able to properly care for my sister and I. My father was never the same after mom died, and he became withdrawn; angry. Anna and I were once again in custody of a parent unfit to care for us. She begged Gabriel to fight for custody, but he could only afford to take one of us... So I left. I haven't talked to any of my family members since." Cas lets his eyes fall shut and he sighs shakily. "Haven't told anyone that before... I don't know why I'm telling you this, actually."

"Hmm..." Dean mumbles, clearly falling asleep. His head lolls to the side and Castiel cracks an eye open to look at him. He has one arm resting on the back of the couch, while the other is around Cas' torso. He looks to be a second from complete unconsciousness, which is understandable, since he'd admitted to staying up even later than Cas. He feels a smile creeping onto his face and leans into Dean's shoulder. His last thought before he drifts off is that he's glad he had the guts to ask Dean to pair up with him on that stupid photography project.


	5. Chapter 5

"Dean, we're late!" Dean hears Castiel shout, "Get up, I'm not missing another class!"

He sits up and rubs his eyes, looking around groggily. Cas is shoving books and binders back into his bag. The clock reads 12:09. "It's only been 9 minutes Cas." Dean mumbles, his eyes drooping shut again. "We're not that late."

"It's a ten minute drive Dean," Cas huffs, "That'll make us _twenty_ minutes late. Hurry up, I need a ride!" He shoulders his bag and gestures impatiently at the door.

Dean yawns, grabs his own bag, and follows Cas down to the parking lot.

* * *

Dean had fallen asleep in last period, math class. His teacher had let him sleep anyways apparently because he was woken up by the bell an hour and fourty minutes later.

He pulls out his phone to check the time out of habit, and sees a text from Cas.

"_We still meeting today to work on the assignment?"_

"_Yeah," _He texts back,_ "Ill probably fall asleep tho_"

"_Hah, bet I will too. U wanna meet the by the office? Id rather catch a ride with u than walk_"

"_Sure_"

"Hey," Dean says, coming up to Castiel, who's sitting on the bench outside the attendance office, "You know, if we're gonna be texting a bunch, I think it might just be time for me to invest in a new cell..."

"Sorry," Cas says with a grimace. "I forgot you had an older phone."

Dean laughs, "You're making it sound like a senior citizen now, Cas! C'mon, it's not _that_ old... Oh by the way, did you miss anything super important in Biology?"

"No, actually, my teacher was late for class and- Wait, how did you know I had Biology?"

Dean smirks. "Saw the textbook when you were packing up your stuff. Lucky guess mostly though." He nods to the front doors. "Now lets go, my baby's callin' me!"

Cas rolls his eyes but follows him outside anyways. "Are we going to the park again? Or maybe somewhere different? A change of scenery might be nice." He waits for Dean to unlock the impala and gets in the passenger side.

As Dean sticks the keys in the ignition however, his phone buzzes. He glances at the text and puts it back in his pocket, expression unreadable. "Was that your brother...?" Cas asks carefully.

Dean turns on the car and hands Castiel his phone without saying anything.

"_Are you coming to the café? Could use some help. Lots of people here today. - SW_"

"You know, we did say we'd help them yesterday."

"So?" Dean snaps, "Cas, they're always bugging the shit out of me, especially if I have someone with me. Sam doesn't know when to shut up."

"Dean... There's something else going on behind the scenes here; what really got you riled up in the café yesterday?" Cas passes the cellphone back to Dean, who takes it and tosses the phone into the glove compartment. "Is it really because of what Jess was saying?"

"Yes Cas, now will you drop it?"

Cas sighs in resignation. "If you don't want to go, that's your choice, but it would be the _perfect_ place to do our photo shoot." Okay, so maybe he hadn't given up just yet...

Dean glances over at Castiel. Surprisingly he isn't wearing his usual smirk. "You think so?" He asks, "Why would it be such a great spot?"

_There's_ the smirk... "Haven't you noticed the lighting in there? Not to mention all the cool antiques! I bet we could get some really awesome shots in there."

Dean fishes his phone out of his pocket and tosses it over to Cas. "Alright. Text that asshole for me."

"_Be there in a minute_"

Cas smiles over at Dean. "That was _too_ easy."

"Hey hey, I can still change my mind!" He says defensively, taking on a slightly pouty expression.

"You just wanted more pie."

"Shut up."


	6. Chapter 6

"Dean! You actually showed up!" Sam exclaims, peeking out from the kitchen.

Dean rolls his eyes at his brother. "Yeah, I did. Not voluntarily, but..." He clears his throat and continues, "Anyways, give me something to do before I leave again, because-"

Sam hands him an apron. "You can bake if you stop complaining."

"Done." He says quickly, snatching up the apron and tying it around his waist. "What am I making?"

"It's all on the tickets, Dean." The younger Winchester replies.

He hurries into the kitchen with a handful of orange slips of paper, and Cas, quietly approaching Sam, asks, "What should I do?"

"Why don't you help Dean in the kitchen? It'll go a lot faster with you two in there and Jess and I waiting tables." Cas nods and turns to leave, but Sam grabs him by the shoulder and says, "Thank you for convincing Dean to come, by the way. And sorry about yesterday. Dean's been really down lately, Jess and I were just trying to lighten the mood a bit..."

Cas nods again. "I understand. But he really didn't need much persuasion. Seems like he'd wanted to come anyways."

"Geez," Sam laughs, "Are we even talking about the same person here? Dean _wanting _to come help in the café? You have _got_ to tell me how you've done this."

"To tell you the truth, I don't even know." Cas says. Sam hands him another apron with an impressed "hm" sound, and hurries off to take a customer's order.

"Cas, pass me the flour will you?" Dean says as Castiel walks up beside him. He's got a huge pile of dough in front of him, and it looks like he's been rolling it out. "It's to your right." He adds, taking in Cas' slightly confused expression.

"Here," Castiel mutters, handing Dean the huge bag of flour. It's pretty heavy, actually.

Dean takes a handful of it and puts it down on the counter, rolling the dough over it. "Is that so it doesn't get stuck to the counter?" Cas asks, fascinated.

Looking up from his work, Dean replies, "Yeah... Haven't you baked a pie before?" He wipes his hands on his apron, coating the while fabric with dough.

Cas shakes his head. "I usually stick to easy stuff. You know, kraft dinner, maybe some eggs and bacon or, I dunno, pre-made foods in general. Stuff that's really simple to make."

Dean just stares at him for a minute, brow furrowed. "Okay, one day I really need to show you how to cook. You at least know how to use an oven right?" He looks a bit concerned until Cas nods. "Good... You can help me out then. Why don't you preheat it to 350°? And make sure it's on the right setting!"

Cas turns the dial to the right temperature, switches on the oven light, and checks that the second dial is on bake (not broil). "Anything else you want me to do, Dean?" He asks, brushing his dark hair from his face.

Dean puts the flattened dough into a pie tin, shaping it around the sides. Cas walks over and peeks over his shoulder; he scoops pie filling out of a jar and layers it carefully on top of the dough. "Not yet, but I'll need some help getting coffee and stuff in a second." He spills a bit of pie filling and dips his finger in it. "Jess makes the best filling I've ever tasted... You want a little, Cas?"

"I'd better not. But I might try a bit after it's done." He replies.

"Okay," Dean says to himself, putting the pie into the oven and setting a timer. "Now onto the simple stuff. Cas, the coffee is already made for the most part, so you and I just have to add cream and sugar. Please tell me you know how to make coffee..."

Castiel smirks. "I'm not that clueless, Dean... I might not drink coffee, but I know how to make it. Give me some orders and I'll get started." Dean passes him a few of the orange tickets, which he reads over and sorts into a 'coffee' pile, and an 'other' pile. The coffee machine is easy enough to use, and Cas catches on pretty quickly.

A few hours of kitchen work later, Sam, Jess, Cas and Dean all sit around one of the café tables, Dean devouring his pie. Well, his _third slice _of pie. Everyone else had already eaten theirs of course, even Cas, who had quite enjoyed it.

"I still don't know how you can possibly eat that much pie." Sam says.

"I don't eat lunch at school, Sam. Plus, we're talking about pie here... I could eat three whole ones and not be sick of 'em." Dean says in between bites. "Besides, it's free."

Sam rolls his eyes. "You really need to be limited on this."

"You do that and I'll kill you in your sleep, little bro."

"And that would be the reason we haven't done this before."

Cas speaks up for the first time in half an hour. "Hey, Sam, Jess, do you think we could use the café as a place to do our photo shoot? You don't have to stick around, we can lock up after if you want." He looks slightly nervous, but his tone is even and calm.

Jess smiles and replies, "Of course, Castiel. Just keep an eye on Dean; I think if we left him unattended in here, he'd clean us out of pie. And probably any other food we have in here."

* * *

**_A/N: I don't know how to bake_**


	7. Chapter 7

"Make sure that everything is turned off," Sam says quickly, Dean shoving him out the door after Jess, "And don't screw anything up," He leans in closer and says quietly, "And don't be rough with Cas, he's probably a-"

"GOODBYE SAM!" Dean yells, putting all his body weight into pushing him out and closing the door quickly behind him. He looks to Cas, who's setting up his camera on a pocket tripod. _I hope he didn't hear Sam..._

Cas hears Dean walking up behind him and says, "You should turn off the lights, Dean."

Dean's heart skips a beat. _Damn it Sam, you've poisoned my mind..._ "W-why? Aren't they okay like this?"

"No, I think it would be much better to use a natural light source for this. There isn't much of it because it's late in the day, but I think it'll suffice. The fluorescent lighting might make the picture look flat; without any value, I mean." Cas answers, unaware of how uncomfortable Dean was at the moment. "Where are the light switches?"

"I'll do it," Dean says hurriedly. "Just get that thing set up." He flicks the switch, but thankfully it's still pretty light in the room. _God this is like the start of a bad porno..._

"Hey Dean, what do you think about switching it up and doing a bit of uh... Human photography?" Dean's stomach flips.

He stares at Cas incredulously. "P-pardon?" He's sure his face is red. Why is it suddenly so hot in here?

Cas gestures to his camera. "You know, you pose and I'll try taking different shots of you? And vice versa." _Oh God._ Is he nuts?

"W-why don't we stick to subjects that can't move?" Dean feels like an idiot. Why was he overreacting like this? This was stupid... Cas was the last person he'd expect to do something weird right now...

Cas chuckles, "If you want we can, but I think it'd be interesting to work with um... Well, with a human subject. Besides," He pauses, a smirk forming, "You have pretty eyes."

_Did he seriously just say that?_ He laughs nervously, but says nothing. He can't think of any response that would sound casual.

"You alright Dean?" Cas walks up to him, a genuine concern on his face. _Nononono_.

"Let's just get this photo shoot done," Dean splutters, "I'm just... Tired." His heart feels like it's going to beat out of his chest. _Why am I acting like a teenage girl!?_

Cas puts his hand against Dean's forehead. It's so cold in comparison to Dean's flushed face... "You're hot," Cas mutters. _Geez, did he have to word it like that...!?_ "Are you sure you're okay? We can do this tomorrow if you want. I think you should go home and rest."

"No, no Cas it's fine, let's do this now. Just... We should get it over with right?" He steps away from Castiel, putting just enough distance between them. "I'm okay, I swear."

Cas doesn't look convinced, but he backs up regardless. "Tell me if you've had enough, okay? I don't want you passing out on me or anything." He turns his camera on and sets it back on the table. "So what are we taking pictures of today?"

Dean sits down on one of the chairs near the camera and focuses on his breathing, willing his heart to slow down. _I'm reading too far into this... Cas isn't gonna make a move on me..._ "Well, why don't you try a few macro shots?" He pauses a moment, thinking it over, then adds, "You said my eyes were nice, right? Why not focus on that or something?"

Grinning, Cas says, "Yeah, that sounds cool! I bet they'd turn out nice! Uh, you should move more into the light though, maybe I should take my camera off the tripod after all..." He turns the settings dial to the pre-adjusted macro setting and looks at Dean leaning against the shop window. He's perfectly silhouetted against it.

"That's perfect," Cas remarks, "Hey, if you weren't actually in the picture, as in, people can't tell it's you, would you be alright with that, Dean?"

Dean looks confused but nods anyways. "Yeah why?"

Cas readies his camera and once again puts it on the right setting. "Because that's perfect right there." He sits on the table behind him and puts the camera strap over his head. "Turn your head a bit maybe..."

"So what, we're not doing pics of my _pretty eyes_ then?" Dean says with a slight lilt. Even though his face was difficult to see in the darkness, Castiel could make out a smug smirk.

Cas shrugs. "Later. Now turn your head."

* * *

Once Dean had gotten used to being the centre of attention, he started to enjoy the photo-shoot. He and Cas chatted the whole time, and they learned even more about each other. It was actually kind of fun.

"Hey Dean, how old are you anyways?" Cas inquires, snapping another picture. They've moved on from silhouette pictures to macro shots again. Dean is particularly fascinated by the button on his jeans, which he'd never really paid attention to before. He'd taken a picture of it by accident, and it had escalated from there. Some of the shots had turned out really nice.

"I'm twenty." He replies, embarrassed. He hopes Cas won't think any less of him knowing he's been held back a grade.

But Cas only looks intrigued. "Oh? You're _two _years older than me? I assumed we were the same age." He's sitting cross-legged on one of the chairs, working on homework.

"Yeah, I uh... My birthday's in January but I flunked a grade, dropped out last year. Only reason I went back was because Sam practically begged me to." There's another _click_ of the camera, and Dean continues, "Lots of stuff happened last year."

Cas looks up from his huge stack of papers. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Nah. It's pretty boring anyways." He mumbles, eyes straining in the dark room. They'd switched to using an old flashlight about an hour ago, which had actually provided some pretty cool looking lighting.

"Dean, it must've been serious if you dropped out of school for a year." Cas' voice is gentle and quiet, and for some reason, Dean's chest constricts when he sees the worried look on his face.

Dean sighs. "There was a fire in my house. Sam, my dad and I got out in time; my mom wasn't so lucky. Dad went nuts. Started drinking, gambling... Then he just left. Sam got a letter saying the café was his, and of course he didn't know what the hell to do with it. I dropped out to run this place, but Sam went behind my back and sold it to one of my dad's old friends. Bobby Singer, the mechanic, owns it. His wife and daughter work here while Sam and Jess are at school. He's way too good to my brother if you ask me, and for some reason, he and Jess get half of the profits to share. He's been more like a father to Sam in one year than my dad ever was. Still think it would've been better for me to take this on full time though." He lazily takes a picture of his mismatched bracelets.

"You and Sam would kill each other if you were forced to work with him daily," Cas chuckles, "I think he made the right choice. Have you kept in contact at all with your father at all...?"

"No, not really. He's almost completely unreachable. Sam gets phone calls from him sometimes, but I haven't heard from him at all. Sammy said he mentioned something about hunting a few times, but he won't say where he is or what he's been doing other than that." Cas rolls his pencil between his fingers, mulling over this new information.

He looks back to his homework, but none of it really seems to be sinking in. Who's really gonna need to know this stuff anyways? "You talked to Sam about it?" He writes down an answer, then after re-reading the question, erases it. "I'm sure it's hard on him too."

"Sam's probably happy the old man's gone. They hated each other. Course, dad thought little Sammy was a friggin' angel; I was just a built in babysitter most of the time." He shakes his head, tongue stuck in the side of his cheek. It looked like he was barely restraining his anger. "I- Sorry, you don't need this. I didn't mean to rant..."

"Hey, you had to deal with my mess of a life story earlier, least I can do is hear yours. How many shots do we have left to take anyways?"

Dean presses a few buttons, then replies, "None. We've got 103 pictures. Guess we need to go through them and get rid of a few huh?" He turns off the camera and sets it down on the table.

Cas brushes his dark hair from his eyes and sighs dramatically. "Yeah. The worst part of every photography assignment." A smile appears on his face.

Dean laughs, "You're such a dork."


End file.
